The Bais Yaakov Cookbook

Choice recipe from the brand new cookbook.

For garlic lovers everywhere! Prepare an extra head of roasted garlic. Its soft caramelized cloves are simply irresistible spread on bread as an accompaniment to this soup. Better yet, pop whole roasted cloves straight into the bowls before filling with soup

1 head of garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling

5 leeks, sliced in half lengthwise,

cleaned from any dirt, and sliced thinly

4-5 large white onions, diced large

6 zucchini, peeled and diced large

2 quarts (8 cups) water

1/4 cup chicken soup mix

1/4 cup vegetable soup mix

1-2 tablespoons kosher salt (optional in place of soup mix)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Slice off the top of the head of garlic, just enough that the actual cloves are peeking out. Place the bulb on a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle olive oil over the garlic and seal the foil. Place sealed garlic in baking pan, to avoid leaking, and roast for 1 hour.

While garlic is roasting, place 2 tablespoons olive oil in a 6-quart pot over medium heat. Add leeks and onions; saute until golden brown. Browning longer will create a deeper flavor. Add zucchini to the pot. Add water, chicken soup mix and vegetable soup mix, or salt. Bring to a boil and cover.

Reduce heat, and simmer on low for 45 minutes. Remove the garlic from the oven and allow to cool. Pop out cloves directly into soup. Transfer soup to a blender and puree until smooth or use an immersion blender directly into the pot. Serve hot.

If there are leftovers, when reheating the soup, heat on low flame, just until warm.

6 servings

Green Bean Mango Salad

This unusual salad is a favorite. Your friends and family will be clamoring to add this recipe to their collections.

2 pounds green beans, washed and trimmed

Dressing:

1 cup Italian dressing

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard

Salad:

1 avocado, diced

4 scallions, chopped

1 mango, peeled and diced

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

½ cup chopped pecans

3 cloves garlic, minced

To assemble salad:

Place green beans into a 4-quart pot. Add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook 6 minutes or until green beans are bright green. Immediately, remove from heat and drain to stop cooking process.

Whisk Italian dressing, honey and Dijon-style mustard in a small bowl. Place green beans, avocado, scallions and mango into a large salad bowl. Top with sunflower seeds, pecans and minced garlic. Pour dressing over vegetables. Toss to coat.

6 -8 Servings

Beer Stew

Light beer is beer that is reduced in alcohol content or in calories, in comparison to regular beer. The spelling “lite beer” is also commonly used.

1 pound beef cubes

1/4 cup flour

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2-4 tablespoons wine vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves, chopped

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1 cup beef broth (1 teaspoon beef soup mix

combined with 1 cup water)

3/4 cup light beer

Prepared rice (optional)

Preheat oven to 325°F. Place flour in a small bowl. Set aside. Heat vegetable oil in a large, preferably ovenproof, skillet over medium flame. While heating, dredge meat in flour. Add onion and garlic to skillet. Then add meat to skillet. Increase heat to medium high and brown meat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add wine vinegar, parsley, brown sugar, bay leaf, thyme and basil. Mix well to combine. Pour in broth, followed by beer. Mix well. Transfer stew to a 13x9x2-inch baking dish, or just leave it in the skillet and place in oven.

Bake covered 2½ hours. Serve over bed of rice.

4 servings

Boston Cream Pie

Vanilla Cake:

3 large eggs, separated

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar, divided

Pinch salt

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Custard Filling:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups milk or non-dairy coffee creamer

6 large egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pinch salt

Chocolate Glaze:

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons corn syrup

2 tablespoons water

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch round cake dish and place a parchment paper round on the bottom. In an electric mixer, beat egg yolks and vanilla on medium speed until well blended. Add cup sugar; beat until well blended, light yellow and thick. Transfer to a bowl. Set aside.

Mix sugar and all-purpose flour in a small saucepan. Whisk in milk or creamer. Add egg yolks, vanilla and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking continuously until thick. Remove from heat. Transfer to a medium bowl, press plastic wrap onto the surface of the custard and refrigerate 30 minutes.

To assemble pie:

Using a serrated knife, cut cake in half, horizontally. Spread one half of the cake evenly with filling; it will drip down sides of cake. Top with remaining cake half. Refrigerate while preparing glaze.

In a saucepan, bring sugar, corn syrup and water to a boil over low heat. Cook until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Add chocolate pieces; let stand 1 minute. Whisk until smooth. Gradually pour glaze over cake. Allow glaze to drip down sides of cake. Refrigerate to set.

8 servings

Excerpted from The Bais Yaakov Cookbook. Much more than a cookbook, this is a comprehensive guide to everything connected to food and the kitchen. It is packed with attractive color photographs offering 200 original recipes and a ton of useful information for the cook ranging from shopping to setting an attractive table.

About the Author

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 2

(2)
Rachel from CA,
February 17, 2012 2:27 AM

delicious

I tried out this soup but accidentally put yellow onions instead of white ones. Came out delicious anyway! It's worth trying!!! My kids are toddlers and they asked me for a second serving!!
Thank you!

(1)
Sarah,
February 13, 2012 12:29 PM

Measurement typo with Boston Cream Pie Recipe?

Hi,
Not sure if I followed the recipe correctly. In the cake portion of the Boston Cream Pie recipe, it calls for two cups of sugar while the ingredients only call for 1/2 cup, divided for the cake portion. Please clarify.
Thanks! Looks delicious! : )

Submit Your Comment:

Name:*

Display my name?

YesNo

Email:*

Your email address is kept private. Our editor needs it in case we have a question about your comment.

My nephew is having his bar mitzvah and I am thinking of a gift. In the old days, the gift of choice was a fountain pen, then a Walkman, and today an iPod. But I want to get him something special. What do you suggest?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Since this event celebrates the young person becoming obligated in the commandments, the most appropriate gift is, naturally, one that gives a deeper understanding of the Jewish heritage and enables one to better perform the mitzvot! (An iPod, s/he can get anytime.)

With that in mind, my favorite gift idea is a tzedakah (charity) box. Every Jew should have a tzedakah box in his home, so he can drop in change on a regular basis. The money can then be given to support a Jewish school or institution -- in your home town or in Israel (every Jews’ “home town”). There are beautiful tzedakah boxes made of wood and silver, and you can see a selection here.

For boys, a really beautiful gift is a pair of tefillin, the black leather boxes which contain parchments of Torah verses, worn on the bicep and the head. Owning a pair of Tefillin (and wearing them!) is an important part of Jewish identity. But since they are expensive (about $400), not every Bar Mitzvah boy has a pair. To make sure you get kosher Tefillin, see here.

In 1944, the Nazis perpetrated the Children's Action in the Kovno Ghetto. That day and the next, German soldiers conducted house-to-house searches to round up all children under age 12 (and adults over 55) -- and sent them to their deaths at Fort IX. Eventually, the Germans blew up every house with grenades and dynamite, on suspicion that Jews might be in hiding in underground bunkers. They then poured gasoline over much of the former ghetto and incinerated it. Of the 37,000 Jews in Kovno before the Holocaust, less than 10 percent survived. One of the survivors was Rabbi Ephraim Oshri, who later published a stirring collection of rabbinical responsa, detailing his life-and-death decisions during the Holocaust. Also on this date, in 1937, American Jews held a massive anti-Nazi rally in New York City's Madison Square Garden.

In a letter to someone who found it difficult to study Torah, the 20th century sage the Chazon Ish wrote:

"Some people find it hard to be diligent in their Torah studies. But the difficulty persists only for a short while - if the person sincerely resolves to submerge himself in his studies. Very quickly the feelings of difficulty will go away and he will find that there is no worldly pleasure that can compare with the pleasure of studying Torah diligently."

Although actions generally have much greater impact than thoughts, thoughts may have a more serious effect in several areas.

The distance that our hands can reach is quite limited. The ears can hear from a much greater distance, and the reach of the eye is much farther yet. Thought, however, is virtually limitless in its reach. We can think of objects millions of light years away, and so we have a much greater selection of improper thoughts than of improper actions.

Thought also lacks the restraints that can deter actions. One may refrain from an improper act for fear of punishment or because of social disapproval, but the privacy of thought places it beyond these restraints.

Furthermore, thoughts create attitudes and mindsets. An improper action creates a certain amount of damage, but an improper mindset can create a multitude of improper actions. Finally, an improper mindset can numb our conscience and render us less sensitive to the effects of our actions. We therefore do not feel the guilt that would otherwise come from doing an improper act.

We may not be able to avoid the occurrence of improper impulses, but we should promptly reject them and not permit them to dwell in our mind.

Today I shall...

make special effort to avoid harboring improper thoughts.

With stories and insights,
Rabbi Twerski's new book Twerski on Machzor makes Rosh Hashanah prayers more meaningful. Click here to order...